His Bedside Manner
by Darknightdestiny
Summary: [GastxIfalna] On a whim, she reached up on the tips of her toes and planted a kiss on his cheek, pausing as she let herself down, never once letting his gaze go. Typical that she would give him such a vague sign.


**His Bedside Manner**

Rachel "D" Winslow

"I want to thank you for helping me with this."

The room was bathed in flourescent lighting, harsh glow reflected by stainless steel. She sat on the table in the middle of the room as he walked over to the silvery desk and opened a file folder, the smallest of the many that had been allotted to her case, and began to scribble some notes. The echo of his fine black shoes still reverberated off the walls of the barren enclosure, calling to the forefront of her mind the fact that the only other object in the room was the swiveling stool he sat upon.

"It's really not a problem," she said, hands clutching her arms as the air chilled her. Under normal circumstances she would not have taken things so lightly, but he always seemed to have a way of making her comfortable in any situation.

He ran his hand through his hair as he turned one page after another, reviewing previous information and filling in the day's date next to empty fields. "I'm sure it's not necessary, but everyone has to have it done before we move on to our respected locations. Besides, you gave me quite a scare in town."

He was referring to the incident two months ago when she'd fallen in the market, stricken with a debilitating headache and a ringing in her ears. And the voices...oh, the voices. There had been so many, and they were all talking at once, telling her different things. She hadn't been able to sort them out, and the sheer effort of doing so had nearly driven her mad. She'd felt like she was in the largest fishbowl imaginable, surrounded by zoloms, whales, plesiosaurs, and every other vocal creature she could think of, singing their haunting songs relentlessly.

"I understand," she replied, smiling ever widely, even though he was still preoccupied with his notes.

"Wouldn't want anything to happen to you," he continued, absently adjusting his watch. After a moment's pause, he turned around on his stool to face her, and smiled. "You're irreplaceable."

That warm and inviting smile...yes, it must be the smile, she reassured herself. It was the reason she never minded his questions, even let him keep her late, and he always managed to break her secrets down into little equations better suited for the scientifically adept. All he ever needed to do was flash his winning smile in her direction, and she would agree to whatever he wished.

Odin help her if she was to spend an extended period of time, even yet unspecified, in a secluded location with this man. She only hoped he wouldn't keep her talking for years to come.

But perhaps, she wouldn't mind so much.

He wiped his hands down the thighs of his pants. "Well...let's get started."

She cringed inside when she saw him open one of the desk drawers and pull out a syringe and needle, along with several vials. "So...who needs this?" Summons above and below, she hated needles.

"You and I need it. Hojo..."

"I don't like him."

He chuckled a bit. "Lucrecia. Vincent, too."

"They're going to Nibelheim after we head north, right?"

"Mhmm...hold still." His brow lifted slightly as he anticipated her customary flinching, but this time she seemed to be deep in thought. "Hojo is going to conduct research on Jenova that requires much concentration and solitude. We're arranging for a secure transport and moving her to the ShinRa mansion, away from all the other projects going on here in Midgar."

Briefly, her eyes met with the pale bend of her slender arm where the surgical metal was embedded in her flesh. However, she had more important things on her mind, and she could not get lost in the sight before she remembered her voice. "...Professor?"

"Yes?" His kind, attentive and eager voice put her at ease. She narrowed her eyes and looked at him pointedly.

"I don't think she's an Ancient."

"...Oh?" His forehead raised and caused a small crinkle in his countenance. "What makes you say that?"

"I don't feel her."

"...Feel? What do you mean you don't feel her?"

She sighed, trying to settle the quake in her chest at questioning the man's many years of expertise, fisting clammy hands. "I mean that I can't sense her life energy. She doesn't seem to be in tune with the planet."

A pause. "Hmm..." He frowned slightly and tilted his head as if he had encountered only a minor setback, even though Project Jenova was to be his crowning achievement. "Have you told anyone else about this?"

"I told Vincent. I saw him on my way here." His brow furrowed, but she plodded on. "They can't do anything unless they get your approval, right?"

"That's how it's supposed to work," he said as he exchanged the blood-filled vial for another empty one. She didn't regret telling him how she felt about the project, but he appeared to be quite troubled all of a sudden.

"Well...could you give me time to see if I can find her? That is, before you go ahead with the project?" Her eyes were hopeful when his face found them, and instantly his smile returned.

"Hmm. I suppose we could wait for a bit. We'll be stopping by Cosmo Canyon; we can do some more research there. I want to pick up some journals I left in my study there anyway." He flashed her an assuring grin. "So tell me," he capped the last of the vials and removed the needle from her arm, "you not only hear voices, but you feel energies?"

"I do." The look in her eyes was grateful as she beamed up at him, happy to have that needle out of her arm.

He returned, pulling the stethescope from around his neck and adjusting it to hang from his ears. "My apologies if this is cold," he said as his smile went crooked, and his arm slipped up under the back of her shirt. "Deep breath..." he softly intoned as he listened through the instrument. "Then," he continued as he took the flat disc away from her skin and moved around to her front, "if you close your eyes, can you tell how close I am?"

She laughed a bit. "Only if I scare you or turn you on," she joked, realising belatedly how awkward such a thing can be when uttered to a man currently slipping his hand inside her shirt.

He lifted his eyebrow, and she began to blush furiously.

"Ahem," she cleared her throat. "What I mean is, it's more of an essence, not a tanglible wavelength. I can't pinpoint your location, but I can get a general sense of your spiritual or emotional well-being." She tried to project an air of confidence, as if it were something mystical and enchanting, but she couldn't help but feel she ended rather lamely.

"Ah," he clipped, again removing the instrument and leveling with her. "What do you sense now?" He stepped a bit closer, eyes dancing with a twinkle of amusement.

"Mmm." Those eyes again. "Feel like reciting the Hippocratic oath much?" She grinned widely. Teasing him was fun.

They were interrupted as the door was abruptly jerked open, and the two of them started apart as a frazzled black mop presented itself. "Gast-"

"Hojo." The professor nodded his recognition of the other man, turning slightly as he felt a tinge of red creeping into his ears.

"I...what happened to you?" The cold man directed his thin nose at the shaking Ancient, staring her down with the beady black eyes he kept behind glass cages.

"Oh, n-nothing," she stuttered, clutching a hand to her chest. "You gave me a start is all..."

"Well." He turned his gaze to the professor, ignoring her for the time being. "Do you think you could get Valentine off my back? You'd know the answers to his questions better than I...and tell him I'm not organizing a pleasure cruise. This is business." He pointed his finger at the man. "You're in charge of the arrangements," he said as he turned to exit, then added as an afterthought, "I think your Cetra has gotten him all worked up over something." He narrowed his eyes at her as he said this, then turned the corner and disappeared down the hall.

Gast laughed quietly to himself and stepped to the door, turning to give the woman a fair smile, eyes again glinting with mirth. "Well, I'd better go and see what he's talking about," he finished, opening the door and holding it for her.

She hopped up and made her way to the exit, pausing in front of him. Then, as on a whim, she reached up on the tips of her toes and planted a kiss on his cheek, pausing as she let herself down, never once letting his gaze go.

Of course she would give him a sign that was difficult to interpret. Nevertheless, the doctor began to blush profoundly.

"Miss-"

"Just...Ifalna," she cut him off, still smiling.

"Right." He licked his lips and tightened his mouth into a hard, thin line before continuing. "Let's not...make this complicated."

"Oh," she glanced back over her shoulder at him as she trotted out the door, "I won't make it complicated if you won't." A wink, and then she was gone.

Now how on earth could she have read him?

He was left staring after her, for once in his life at a total loss for words. The only thing he could come up with, he mouthed dazedly, rooted to his spot.

"Nymph..."

**End**

_Final Fantasy VII and its characters © 1997 Square-Enix Co., Ltd._


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